


Beauty and the Brains

by panchostokes (badwolfrun)



Series: Prompt Fics [17]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Self-Hatred, angst ahoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 23:38:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21382474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/panchostokes
Summary: Jack blows up and Mac admits his true feelings.
Relationships: Jack Dalton/Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Prompt Fics [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540795
Comments: 14
Kudos: 63





	Beauty and the Brains

**Author's Note:**

> ciccithedreamer asked for Macdalton + “I can’t do anything right.” (with a happy ending!) 
> 
> lmao this one broke me and thank you deltajackdalton for the brainstorming help cause this could have honestly went one of four ways!

“I can’t do anything right.” 

“Jack, no, that’s not what I meant!”

“Yes, Mac, it is,” Jack responds with tight lips and his back straightened. “I think you made it pretty clear, you don’t need me hanging around, cramping your style. You got Riley, and Boze, and Cage to help you out now. All I do is screw things up. Jack the doofus, the crazy uncle, always great for a laugh but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, all he does is slow things down, fucks everything up!” 

He wipes his face with one hand, the other resting on his hip. He looks up through his fingers, waiting for Mac’s rebuttal.

It never comes.

He nods with a sarcastic smile as he soaks in Mac’s silence that tells him he’s right, and that he should leave.

He brushes past who he thought was more than just a friend, more than just a brother, hell, if there was another level past lover, even that wouldn’t qualify as a descriptor. He had been played for a fool all these years, thinking Mac truly cared about him and actually wanted him around, but this last mission showed to him that Old Man Jack was nothing more than a pity case, kept around only because Jack saved his life one time with two aptly-fired bullets. 

But that debt has long since been repaid, and now that there was some new muscle in the group, the truth has finally come out. 

Mac doesn’t need him anymore. 

If he needed him at all to begin with, that is. 

He sulks through the empty house, ignoring Bozer’s jovial greeting–Bozer was only greeting him out of politeness, not because he actually cared about him. He doesn’t even look back, only looking forward to whatever bar he was going to haunt to drown his feelings in a bottle of bourbon. 

His hand is on the door knob when he feels another grip his tense shoulder. 

“Jack, wait!” 

He’s spun around, comes face to face with a teary-eyed Angus Macgyver, the sight of which does nothing to ease the heart that’s ripping at the seams. 

“Look, I-I’m sorry, okay? But please, don’t go. I need you.” 

“Yeah, right,” Jack scoffs, twisting out of Mac’s grip. “I know my place in the world, man, and it’s not with you. You’re better off without me.” 

“That’s not true!” 

Mac puts his hand on the door, keeping it shut though he knows it won’t last long, Jack’s pull is stronger than his push. 

“Listen, I...I can’t think straight without you around. And, and sure, the dynamic’s a little different, now that we got Cage, but the way I see it, the more the merrier. This team is nothing without you--_I...” _Mac wraps a hand behind Jack’s head, directing his gaze right into his eyes. “I am nothing without you.”

Jack can’t help the sting in his eyes, the way his lower lip begins to tremble as Mac’s face crumbles into a red, wet mess that he had only ever seen on the darkest of dark nights. _Stupid, stupid Dalton, _you made him cry. 

“Be mad at me all you want, but _please, _don’t beat yourself up over one dumb mistake. Don’t think we don’t want you around, don’t be mad at _yourself, _for putting your heart before your brain. Your heart is the biggest out of all of ours combined, and I-I love you for that.”

It doesn’t matter, how this fight even began, what ignited the self-deprecating thoughts that poisoned Jack’s brain, but Mac’s final words trigger a soothing catharsis that sparks a wave of motions Jack had reserved for a moment like this.

His white-knuckled fists unfurl, releasing the grip on the sleeves of his jacket to grip onto the lapels of Mac’s jacket. He pulls Mac towards him--his pull is stronger than Mac’s gentle push as Mac tries to pin him against the door, as their faces slam and melt together. Mac runs his fingers over the fuzzy buzz of Jack’s head, Jack moves his hands to wrap around Mac’s waist as he turns them so that Mac’s back is against the door, Mac splays his hands behind him to brace himself under Jack’s weight. 

“Uhm...I’ll just...leave you two alone,” Bozer’s voice is almost unheard before Mac’s eyes open, his ears redden in embarrassment--not from kissing Jack, but just from the revelation of being _watched _while kissing Jack Dalton. 

Not that he really minds, because he wants to just climb to the roof and scream his love for Jack to the whole world and anyone else who would listen. 

“I think we should take this to the bedroom.”

“Great thinking there, hoss,” Jack moans as he works his way out of Mac’s mouth to nibble on his burning ears, though mutters aloud under his breath, “Beauty and the Brains...”

“Which one am I?”

Jack lifts Mac up with ease, carries him to the bedroom, doing his best not to knock him into walls and door frames in the process, though Mac grins, enjoying every second of it.

“Both.”


End file.
